What a game,94-92

On an off-day prior to Thursday night's Game 3, with his Houston Rockets down 0-2 to the Utah Jazz, Tracy McGrady -- with a straight face, but sarcasm evident -- blamed himself for any and all postseason franchise woes.
Teammates' lousy free-throw shooting, and their many missed layups. Point guard Rafer Alston's bad hamstring. Even some bad brew.
"It's my fault a couple people in the stands ordered Heinekens and they got Budweiser," McGrady said, according to the Houston Chronicle. "It's my fault. I'm sorry."
But tip one to McGrady on Thursday, when no apologies were necessary as Houston rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Utah 94-92.
McGrady came into Game 3 not only having failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs in his first six tries -- once with Toronto, three times with Orlando, twice with Houston -- but also with no field goals made in the fourth quarter of the first two games of this series.
He finished with a team-high 27 points on Thursday, however, including seven straight during a late final-quarter span in which Houston took control.
He hit two free throws with two minutes and 50 seconds left to break an 86-86 tie, drilled a step-back jumper to make it 90-86 and knocked down a 20-footer to put the Rockets up by six.
"I got myself going, got to the free-throw line," McGrady said, "and from that point on it was one-on-one coverage, and I hit some shots."
Just as planned, the seven-time All-Star claimed afterward.
"I was just waiting for the right time," said McGrady, who was guarded by Andrei Kirilenko down the stretch.
"I was just trying to be passive early in the fourth quarter," he added, "and I felt like if we were able to keep it close, I was waiting until the right time to really insert myself on the offensive end."
Intended or not, the lay-back strategy worked -- and the Rockets surged forward with new life heading into Saturday night's Game 4 in Utah and a now-necessary Game 5 on Tuesday night in Houston.
"We're still confident," McGrady said. "We're still a confident group, although we're still down. If we can come in here and win this game being down 0-2, anything is possible."
After getting so much more right than wrong Thursday, no one can blame him for an attitude like that.
Not even those two stuck with the Bud